Movies like Sartre by Himself (1976)
The best movies like Sartre by Himself (1976) are Lost Illusions (2021), Promise at Dawn (2017) and Cyrano, My Love (2018). If Sartre by Himself hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMr & Mme Adelman (2017)7.5/10 from 475 votes
- NewestA Man of His Time (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchLost Illusions (2021)Also in French
Lost Illusions (2021)
Lucien de Rubempré, a young, lower-class poet, leaves his family's printing house for Paris. Soon, he learns the dark side of the arts business as he tries to stay true to his dreams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPromise at Dawn (2017)
From his childhood in Poland to his adolescence in Nice to his years as a student in Paris and his tough training as a pilot during World War II, this tragi-comedy tells the romantic story of Romain Gary, one of the most famous French novelists and sole writer to have won the Goncourt Prize for French literature two times.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCyrano, My Love (2018)
Paris, France, December 1897. The young playwright Edmond Rostand feels like a failure. Inspiration has abandoned him. Married and father of two children, desperate and penniless, he persuades the great actor Constant Coquelin to perform the main role in his new play. But there is a problem: Coquelin wants to premiere it at Christmas and Edmond has not written a single word.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMr & Mme Adelman (2017)
How did Sarah and Victor get along for more than 45 years? Who was this enigmatic woman living in the shadow of her husband? Love, ambition, betrayals and secrets feed the story of this extraordinary couple, as they experience both the large and small moments of the last century's history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mad Women's Ball (2021)
A woman who is unfairly institutionalized at a Paris asylum plots to escape with the help of one of its nurses. Based on the novel 'Le bal des folles' by Victoria Mas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Know That Voice (2014)
Filmmaker Lawrence Shapiro discusses voice-over acting with the talented people behind the characters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFinal Portrait (2017)
Paris, 1964. The Swiss sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti, one of the most accomplished and respected artists of his generation, asks his friend, the American writer James Lord, to sit for a portrait, assuring him that it will take no longer than two or three hours, an afternoon at the most.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParis Je T'aime (2006)
Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Morgan's Last Love (2013)
A widowed professor living in Paris develops a special relationship with a younger French woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Things of Life (1970)
The mind of Pierre Bérard, a successful middle-aged architect, is torn between his unstable present with Hélène, his younger lover, and his happy memories of the past with Catherine, his ex-wife; but his true destiny awaits him at a crossroads on his way to Rennes…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Couch in New York (1996)
A burnt-out New York psychoanalyst exchanges apartments with a Parisian woman. When his patients arrive, they talk to her and then pay. He returns early and becomes a patient as well.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Nannies (2022)
Angèle, a thirty-something from Ivory Coast, always cope thanks to the gift of gab and audacity. To escape from a bunch of dangerous criminals, she becomes a nanny in the uptown Paris, hired by Hélène, the single mom of eight years old Arthur. Discovering the work conditions of her colleagues, she decides to stand up for their rights, thanks to a young lawyer who will quickly fall for her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Old Lady (2014)
Mathias Gold is a down-on-his-luck New Yorker who inherits a Parisian apartment from his estranged father. But when he arrives in France to sell the vast domicile, he's shocked to discover a live-in tenant who is not prepared to budge. His apartment is a viager—an ancient French real estate system with complex rules pertaining to its resale—and the feisty Englishwoman Mathilde Girard, who has lived in the apartment with her daughter Chloé for many years, can by contract collect monthly payments from Mathias until her death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Men and a Cradle (1985)
Three young men - Jacques, Pierre, and Michel - share an apartment in Paris, and have many girlfriends and parties. Once, during a party, a friend of Jacques' tells him he has a quite compromising package to deliver, and asks him if he can leave it discreetly at their place. Jacques agrees and, as he works as a steward, flies away for a one-month trip in Japan, telling Pierre and Michel about the package. Then, one of Jacques' former girlfriends drops a baby before their door, making Pierre and Michel believing it is the package they are waiting for. Their lives are then completely changed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Man of His Time (2026)
September 1940. Henri Marre arrives alone in Vichy as the authoritarian regime settles in. Broke, estranged from his family, and carrying copies of his self-published manifesto Notre Salut (Our Salvation), the 49-year-old is determined to secure what he believes is his rightful place in the new administration. In his writing, Henri sets out his patriotic convictions and his engineer’s methodology: efficiency above all. Claiming he wants to help save France after defeat, he does whatever is required to remain useful, serving the machinery of the new order with increasing skill. But he may be pursuing something more urgent: escape from his own ruin
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWonderstruck (2017)
The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeartbeat (1938)
A pompous grocer’s assistant in Marseille annoys a visiting film crew so much that they prank him with a phony acting contract; believing it to be real, the “schpountz” heads to Paris for his new career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Happy Prince (2018)
In 1895, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was the most famous writer in London, and Bosie Douglas, son of the notorious Marquess of Queensberry, was his lover. Accused and convicted of gross indecency, he was imprisoned for two years and subjected to hard labor. Once free, he abandons England to live in France, where he will spend his last years, haunted by memories of the past, poverty and immense sadness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Perfect Enemy (2021)
Famed architect Jeremy Angust is approached on his trip to the Paris Airport by a chatty girl named Texel Textor who needs a ride. He obliges and after they part ways at the airport entrance, he misses his flight. As he settles in the lounge, he encounters the mysterious young Texel again, who insists on telling her strange story — and the conversation grows stranger and more twisted until it turns sinister and deadly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Hundred and One Nights (1995)
Monsieur Cinema, a hundred years old, lives alone in a large villa. His memories fade away, so he engages a young woman to tell him stories about all the movies ever made.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sartre by Himself?
The closest matches to Sartre by Himself are Lost Illusions (2021), Promise at Dawn (2017) and Cyrano, My Love (2018). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sartre by Himself?
Start with Lost Illusions (2021), the closest match to Sartre by Himself.
What is the highest-rated movie like Sartre by Himself?
Mr & Mme Adelman (2017), rated 7.5/10 by 475 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sartre by Himself?
A Man of His Time (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Sartre by Himself?
Yes: Lost Illusions (2021), Promise at Dawn (2017) and Cyrano, My Love (2018).
How are movies similar to Sartre by Himself chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sartre by Himself, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.